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Fern Belzung

Fern Estelle Belzung, 88, passed away May 14, 2013, in Fort Smith. She was born April 16, 1925, to Lee Roy Littrell and Mary Pauline Smith in Springdale.

She grew up in a loving family. Her parents left Arkansas in 1927 to travel to Idaho in a Model T Ford to have a better life. Her father, Roy, would stop when they needed money and find work for a few days on the many farms along the way, making about 15 cents an hour. They would sometimes just park off the road to sleep at night or would get permission to sleep in a barn. Once, when they were in Idaho, one of the cousins stated to her father, Roy, “You had better get the chickens because Pauline is getting ready to go to Arkansas.” From 1927 until 1940, Fern said she made at least 13 trips between Arkansas and Idaho, a 2,800 mile round trip. These trips were driven mostly in a Model T Ford, which was 20 horsepower with a top speed of 45 mph, a rough ride with incessant rattling on dirt roads.

Fern grew up in Idaho. In her teenage years, while working in a restaurant in Sun Valley, she met her future husband and the love of her life, Robert “Bob” Belzung. Stationed in San Diego, he was in Idaho on R&R from the Navy. Within a year or so, they married. After her husband was discharged from the service, they decided to move back to Arkansas. In 1948, they moved to Fort Smith where Bob and his family lived. They settled in a comfortable home on 27th Street. By that time, Fern had her hands full raising three small children and taking care of her family. In 1950, they decided to move to a 30-acre farm in Van Buren after her middle child, Bobby, almost got hit by a car that had swerved into the yard where he was playing.

Fern proved to be the catalyst that united the family during this time on the farm. There was laundry to do, children to get ready for school, meals to prepare, homework to be done and chores to be done around the farm. Wait, you say, don’t most moms do these things? Yes, but what makes this a little more exceptional is that Fern did these things and more on a farm without the benefit of indoor plumbing and with no drinking water on the premises. All drinking water had to be brought from town in five-gallon glass containers. The well water was not drinkable and was only used for bathing. The family bathed on a regular basis in washtubs after Fern heated pots of water so it would be just right. Then each child, one after the other, would bathe. Fern did laundry in an electric washer with a wringer attached to get excess water out and would then hang the clothes on a line. After the cow was milked each day, she would skim the cream from the top and sell it to the neighbors. Some of it was used to make homemade butter for the family to enjoy. Excess eggs were gathered and also sold for extra money. Her children well remember the homemade biscuits and gravy that were “to die for.” She made them on a regular basis. One time, when she cracked one of the fresh eggs, a baby chicken popped out in the skillet. That was a scream the family won’t quickly forget. When summer rolled around, a hog or a calf would be killed and butchered. Fern would be right there wrapping and labeling the cuts, making sausage and taking the meat to the freezer, which was located on Rogers Avenue near Ninth Street in Fort Smith. Can’t forget the chickens. Fern and her mom, Pauline, would gather several chickens at a time, lop their heads off, boil them until the feathers could be removed, cut them up and take them off to the freezer. She did all of this and more while taking care of her family, going to Lee Creek to swim and have picnics, fish and garden.

After eight years on the farm, Fern was tired and needed a change, so her husband moved the family to Fort Smith in 1959. In 1962, after Fort Chaffee closed, she and her husband moved to Austin, Texas, where he was attached to Bergstrom Air Force Base. In 1965, they lived in Batesville until Bob retired as an inspector with Batesville Mfg. Co. In 1972, they retired in Fort Smith, buying a home where they would live together for the next 40 and 41 years, respectively.

Always putting her family first, Fern made many trips back to Fort Smith from Batesville and Austin. One time, on a trip from Austin to Fort Smith, the pickup overheated coming over the Ouachita Mountains. They simply put the tea and drinks they had made for the trip into the radiator and came on in. For over 60 years, Fern was never far from her husband’s side. She was always happiest when her family was around her, enjoying and bonding with each other. She took care of Bob until he died in 2012. She is resting by his side once again. As Proverbs 31:10 states: “A capable wife who can find? Her value is far more than that of corals.”

She was preceded in death by her parents, Lee Roy Littrell and Mary Pauline Smith; and her husband, Robert “Bob” Belzung; and a grandson, Stephen Monta Belzung. She is survived by her children, William E. Belzung and wife Salvacion Monta Belzung, Robert Belzung Jr. and wife Nelda Faye Belzung, and Sharon Louise Stewart and husband Raymond Stewart; her grandchildren, Andrew Littrell Belzung, Renee Falloran Arnold, Bobbie Joe Cate and husband Eddie Tate and Monique Ann Belzung; and many aunts, uncles, nephews and nieces.

Graveside service will be 2 p.m. today at Gracelawn Cemetery in Van Buren.